David, I'll admit it, I wrote this before I read your column. But I promise I'll get to it right now, I really will! FWIW, agree or disagree, these were my observations immediately after the end of the game on Sunday….
Buckle up, everybody. I'm afraid that this past weekend is pretty indicative of what's going to happen nearly every time the Royals come up against a real live top-flight major league baseball team. They may have some success against the weakest teams on their schedule and may even eventually hold their own with the mediocre-to-average teams they face, but they're nowhere near ready to deal with teams like the Braves. Perhaps nothing illuminates the gulf between the two teams so well as the 24-10 run differential over the three-game series.
It's tempting to think (hope) that this series might have been some sort of wake-up call for them but the problem is that they're not equipped to do much about it even if it was. Maybe they will be in 2025 or '26. (I wouldn't bet against it, but who knows?)
However that may be, they're definitely not there yet. Not by a country mile.
Man, felt better about the Royals after last weekend…..back to feeling like “how is this going to work” again after this weekend. A lot depends on health yet with Bubic and Lynch….but Bubic was the bright spot and if he goes down for an extended period of time that’s going to really hurt. You heard anything on Lynch lately? It’s too early yet…but I’m starting to question the offense a little bit more. They have a really nice top 5. Fully believe that…but the drop off is so steep after that. I’m not sure who, but they definitely need more MLB caliber hitters to create a longer lineup. The more this year goes on the more you realize…they really do have to pony up for a solid mlb hitter somewhere and at least a number 2 starter. As we are finding, the depth on the pitching side and hitting side isn’t there yet. And they lost to something games last year so you can’t expect it too….but they just seem pretty far away right now to where its entirely possible they are don’t make it to a 70 win season like I thought they would. Need the schedule to lighten up a little.
Weakest outfield in MLB. Olivares needs to go and hopefully Doziers end is near. Still hoping Melendez gets traded. Him and Olivares in outfield at same time is a definite loss.
David, there's one other aspect to this whole "should they have traded Salvy?" discussion that I think is worthy of note: DM publicly made it clear many times that he had no interest in participating in trades that were "too one-sided." Apparently it might have hurt another GM's feelings or something. At any rate he always talked about the necessity of every trade being win-win for both teams. That may well be the reason that he didn't strike while the iron was hot with Salvy.
We can only hope that the new ownership and front office is more concerned with putting a winning team on the field and less concerned with the feelings of employees of other teams.
Nice Post...I was thinking the same on the use of Yarbrough... Hey, off topic, but have you any comments on Lovelady being ejected from the Royals? Maybe you have already commented...
Why is it that MLB seems to stack opponents in the schedule? Not only do we play the Rangers in back to back weeks, but also the White Sox, Mariners, and Astros later in the year. This was a thing before the balanced schedule and I never understand why it’s the case.
I appreciate Hunter Dozier confirming with the first two Texas batters on Monday night what I recently said about him not being a MLB-caliber infielder. The fact that his miscues set the stage for a 3-run HR merely underscores the point. Combine that with his woeful performance at the plate and I see almost zero trade value there.
The ability to play multiple positions means little if you can't play any of them well. He should be, at most, a "break glass in case of emergency" guy, stashed away on a minor league roster unless some truly dire situation with the big league club makes his presence necessary. I haven't looked it up but I assume that he has too many years of MLB service time to make that a legitimate possibility. (Maybe he has options left but I don't know.) The Royals need to make him someone else's problem ASAP, even if that means releasing him outright.
David, I'll admit it, I wrote this before I read your column. But I promise I'll get to it right now, I really will! FWIW, agree or disagree, these were my observations immediately after the end of the game on Sunday….
Buckle up, everybody. I'm afraid that this past weekend is pretty indicative of what's going to happen nearly every time the Royals come up against a real live top-flight major league baseball team. They may have some success against the weakest teams on their schedule and may even eventually hold their own with the mediocre-to-average teams they face, but they're nowhere near ready to deal with teams like the Braves. Perhaps nothing illuminates the gulf between the two teams so well as the 24-10 run differential over the three-game series.
It's tempting to think (hope) that this series might have been some sort of wake-up call for them but the problem is that they're not equipped to do much about it even if it was. Maybe they will be in 2025 or '26. (I wouldn't bet against it, but who knows?)
However that may be, they're definitely not there yet. Not by a country mile.
Man, felt better about the Royals after last weekend…..back to feeling like “how is this going to work” again after this weekend. A lot depends on health yet with Bubic and Lynch….but Bubic was the bright spot and if he goes down for an extended period of time that’s going to really hurt. You heard anything on Lynch lately? It’s too early yet…but I’m starting to question the offense a little bit more. They have a really nice top 5. Fully believe that…but the drop off is so steep after that. I’m not sure who, but they definitely need more MLB caliber hitters to create a longer lineup. The more this year goes on the more you realize…they really do have to pony up for a solid mlb hitter somewhere and at least a number 2 starter. As we are finding, the depth on the pitching side and hitting side isn’t there yet. And they lost to something games last year so you can’t expect it too….but they just seem pretty far away right now to where its entirely possible they are don’t make it to a 70 win season like I thought they would. Need the schedule to lighten up a little.
Weakest outfield in MLB. Olivares needs to go and hopefully Doziers end is near. Still hoping Melendez gets traded. Him and Olivares in outfield at same time is a definite loss.
David, there's one other aspect to this whole "should they have traded Salvy?" discussion that I think is worthy of note: DM publicly made it clear many times that he had no interest in participating in trades that were "too one-sided." Apparently it might have hurt another GM's feelings or something. At any rate he always talked about the necessity of every trade being win-win for both teams. That may well be the reason that he didn't strike while the iron was hot with Salvy.
We can only hope that the new ownership and front office is more concerned with putting a winning team on the field and less concerned with the feelings of employees of other teams.
Nice Post...I was thinking the same on the use of Yarbrough... Hey, off topic, but have you any comments on Lovelady being ejected from the Royals? Maybe you have already commented...
Thanks
Geg
Why is it that MLB seems to stack opponents in the schedule? Not only do we play the Rangers in back to back weeks, but also the White Sox, Mariners, and Astros later in the year. This was a thing before the balanced schedule and I never understand why it’s the case.
I appreciate Hunter Dozier confirming with the first two Texas batters on Monday night what I recently said about him not being a MLB-caliber infielder. The fact that his miscues set the stage for a 3-run HR merely underscores the point. Combine that with his woeful performance at the plate and I see almost zero trade value there.
The ability to play multiple positions means little if you can't play any of them well. He should be, at most, a "break glass in case of emergency" guy, stashed away on a minor league roster unless some truly dire situation with the big league club makes his presence necessary. I haven't looked it up but I assume that he has too many years of MLB service time to make that a legitimate possibility. (Maybe he has options left but I don't know.) The Royals need to make him someone else's problem ASAP, even if that means releasing him outright.